This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. Don’t freak out.

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Do you live in one of the most dangerous cities in Ohio?

We all watch the news and see reports on Facebook of the latest crimes that happen in our hometowns. But it can be hard to tell at a big picture level how dangerous our town actually is.

No one wants to feel unsafe, and statistically speaking, odds are that where you live is most likely relatively safe. In order to help the good people of Ohio — and anyone looking to move to Ohio — know just how close they are to danger, we took data from the annual FBI report and did some serious analysis.

As luck would have it, some of the biggest names in Ohio are also the most dangerous according to the most recent FBI data.

The data shows that these ten cities are currently the most dangerous in the Buckeye State:

Why did Springfield take the top spot? For the answer to this question and a detailed explanation of the data and analysis we used in creating this ranking, read on. Or learn more about the safest places in Ohio.

1. Springfield

Population: 59,503Rank Last Year: 5 (Up 4)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 690Property Crimes Per 100k: 6,789
Springfield shot up the rankings this year to take the spot as the most dangerous city in Ohio for 2018.

Springfield, a St. Louis suburb, has seen property crimes plummet about 30% recently, so law enforcement must be cracking down on vehicle thefts and home invasion robberies.

But, statistically, 1 in 144 people in Springfield were raped, attacked or murdered in 2016. Wow.

3. Lima

Population: 37,715Rank Last Year: 3 (No Change)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 943Property Crimes Per 100k: 5,989
Located in Allen County, Lima hasn’t experienced much of a change in its crime statistics recently.

Its relatively poor violent crime statistics went up between 2014-16, while property crime fell by a very small amount to 2,259 occurrences.

4. Cleveland

Population: 386,227Rank Last Year: N/AViolent Crimes Per 100k: 1,630Property Crimes Per 100k: 5,316
We noticed a trend in our top ten that is exemplified by Cleveland. Violent crime rates tend to be higher in bigger cities. This probably has to do with population density and a larger range of incomes. Smaller cities have a tendency to have higher property crime rates.

Cleveland ranks 13th for property crime and 1st for violent crime according to the most recent FBI data.

FYI – Cleveland didn’t rank last year because they didn’t submit data to the FBI.

5. Whitehall

Population: 18,804Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 4)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 813Property Crimes Per 100k: 6,184
Tiny Whitehall, statistically, is the 7th most violent city per capita in the entire state of Ohio. Whitehall, for those outside of the St. Louis area, is essentially a tiny St. Louis suburb.

While crimes here skyrocketed in 2015, apparently, local jurisdictions have made progress, as crimes went down in 2016. However, for a town of just over 18,804 people, 153 violent crimes is eye opening. Statistically, 1 in 122 residents was the victim of a rape, attack or was killed just two years ago. And that’s even lower than it was the year before, when it was double that.

6. Middletown

Population: 48,768Rank Last Year: 11 (Up 5)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 522Property Crimes Per 100k: 6,758
Folks who live in little Middletown have the 191 highest chance of being the victim of a rape or attack. The city, located in Southeastern Ohio, has seen a moderate population decline in recent years, perhaps due to the crime happening within its city limits.

In 2016, 1 out of 13.7 Middletown residents were the victim of a crime.

Middletown is also home of the famous Lambert?s Cafe (the ‘throwed rolls restaurant’).

10. Chillicothe

Population: 21,692Rank Last Year: 9 (Down 1)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 433Property Crimes Per 100k: 8,053
Chillicothe, located in Ross County, is the 10th most dangerous and 22nd most violent city in Ohio.

Violent crime has remained high from 2014-16, during which time property crime fell by only small amounts.

Locking It All Up In Ohio

The latest FBI crime data shows that Springfield ranks as the most dangerous city in Ohio for 2018.

However, there will be new data coming out later this year. At that point we can revisit Springfield’s status — that is if they haven’t beaten us all up already.

I doubt the accuracy since Columbus, Lancaster, Steubenville and others not listed. Crime in the cities are closely related to poverty. Southern Ohio has a lack of jobs and a lot of poverty as do many inner cities. Most city crime is drug related and that’s everywhere.

Before you put your name to anything this critical you should be careful coming to any conclusions until you check reported crimes compared to actual crimes. Even though the FBI provide the tools needed to come up with these results they, and you have no way to tell how and why the reports were taken.

They were using the UCR which does not take into account dark figure crimes, as well as the UCR only takes the most violent or deviant crimes committed, so if there are multiple crimes committed at one time the worst crime will be the only one reported. Just keep that in mind!

Youngstown was the murder capital of the USA per captita 2001-2003.
In fact I passed a woman wearing a shirt today that had “Youngstown, Ohio murder capital of America, 2001-2003 come heavy or don’t come at all”. LOL Still true today no matter how many gentrified craft beer places they can prop up throughout the area.

“Springfield, a suburb of St. Louis,”. Unless you are writing about some other state, St. Louis is more than 500 miles away in Missouri. The last I checked there were two states inbetween Ohio and Missouri. Now Springfield, Ohio is small city halfway inbetween Dayton and Columbus and is not considered a suburb of either although it is considered to be in the Dayton CSA

This site, “roadsnacks,” dies not ascribe to any respected methods of research. Much of the information posted in this piece is indeed false. Not only did they put two of the cities on the list as two suburbs of St. Louis Missouri, but their population statistics and crime rates are not even close.

I really dislike places that do this. But people are gullible and believe whatever they are fed.

Chris Kolmar, You and your site have zero credibility. You stated that Springfield and Whitehall were suburbs of St. Louis. The last time I looked at a map there were TWO STATES between Ohio and Missouri.They are Indiana and Illinois. Not even Springfield, Missouri is a suburb of St. Louis, They are 250 miles apart. How do you make such mistakes? Your facts are wrong in more ways than one. You contradict yourself. You claim both Dayton and Whitehall are the most dangerous.